Three years after the unsolved murder of fashion writer Christa Worthington on Cape Cod, authorities have come across a new clue – a carving knife found in the woods near the slay scene, according to a published report.

A resident of the quiet seaside town of Truro, Mass., recently spotted the kitchen blade off Depot Road in the vicinity of Worthington’s picturesque cottage, where she was found lying in a pool of blood on Jan. 6, 2001, a police source told the Boston Herald.

The weapon “will be treated as a potential piece of evidence in the case,” and has been sent to the state’s crime investigation lab to be examined for possible DNA traces and fingerprints that may link it to the crime, the Herald reported.

Any DNA evidence found on the knife will be compared to evidence found on Worthington’s body and at the crime scene.

Worthington, 46, was found on her kitchen floor by her neighbor and rejected lover, Tim Arnold. Her 21/2-year-old daughter, Ava, was sitting in the pool of blood, trying to breast-feed from her mom, who may have been dead up to 36 hours before being found.